Slidell man serving life sentence for burglary, theft will be released

Updated September 5, 2018 at 6:50 PM;Posted September 5, 2018 at 6:33 PM

Patrick Matthews was sentenced to life in prison without parole under Louisiana's habitual offender law following 2009 convictions for theft and simple burglary. Matthews' sentence was legal, but a federal judge deemed it excessive considering the circumstances. She ordered his release. (courtesy of the ACLU)

His simple burglary and two theft convictions in 2009 for stealing tools from a shed in Slidell, plus a generator and welding machine each worth $750, made him a four-time felony offender.

Matthews' life without parole sentence was legal under Louisiana's habitual offender law, but a federal judge last week deemed it excessive considering the circumstances.

In an order issued Aug. 29, U.S. District Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown said Matthews should be released within 120 days unless the state court resentences him. Her order was based on a recommendation U.S. Magistrate Judge Janis Van Meerveld made Aug. 13.

Without the federal judge's order, attorney Justin Harrell said the only relief Matthews might have been able to look forward to was clemency from a Louisiana governor. But, he said, that wasn't realistic.

Harrell said the most Matthews could have received for burglary after his 2009 conviction was 12 years. With good time or parole, Harrell said Matthews likely would have been out of prison by now.

Matthews' first conviction was in 2005, when he pleaded guilty to two counts of simple burglary and one misdemeanor simple battery charge. He received a five-year suspended sentence and was placed on two years of supervised probation.

He was 17 at the time.

In 2007, Matthews pleaded guilty to simple burglary and was placed on two years' probation. Judge Patricia Hedges ordered that sentence to run concurrent with the time he was serving for his 2005 convictions, according to court records.

Matthews' next convictions came in 2009. According to court records, he and a co-defendant stole a $750 welding machine from outside a home on Bayou Liberty Road in Slidell on April 16, 2009. That same day, they took tools from a shed on Laurent Road.

The next morning, Matthews and his co-defendant stole a generator worth between $750 and $800 from the backyard of another Slidell home. According to court records, the generator was recovered and returned to the owners.

Matthews had never spent a day in prison before he was sentenced for those crimes. Initially, he was sentenced to 10 years for simple burglary and seven years on each of the theft counts. Judge August Hand ordered the sentences to run concurrent.

Hand later vacated Matthews' 10-year sentence and re-sentenced him to life without parole after finding he was a multiple offender.

In the next two years, Matthews filed multiple appeals asking higher courts for relief.

He argued his sentence was "constitutionally excessive," considering his past offenses weren't violent or drug-related. He said he had a substance abuse problem that never had been properly addressed.

Matthews, now 31, told the ACLU in 2013 he worked for a historical restoration company, and his drug addiction got out of hand when construction work dried up and he couldn't find a job.

"I never in the world would've thought that could happen," he said in the organization's "A Living Death" report about people serving life sentences for nonviolent offenses. "Made one mistake and was treated like a murderer."

North Shore District Attorney Warren Montgomery's office has not filed objections to the magistrate judge's recommendation or to Brown's order.

A spokeswoman said Matthews would be re-sentenced by a state court judge.

Montgomery was not in office at the time Matthews was sentenced, having replaced long-time 22nd Judicial District Attorney Walter Reed in 2014.

Reed, who did not to seek re-election that year, was convicted in 2016 on 18 federal corruption charges. He was sentenced to four years in prison, and is out on bond while his conviction is under appeal.

Harrell said Matthews' family is "elated" he'll be coming home.

"I don't know how much more time he's going to have to go through the system," he said. "But I think they are ecstatic to know there is an absolute definite end date for his release."